Jamie, as for current Cowboys wearing the star only Romo, Ware, and Witten have been with the Cowboys longer than 9 years.

In fact Romo has only started in 93 games, which is about 6 full seasons and has not played 11 full seasons. This means that Romo has broken nearly every passing record in Dallas despite playing with an average football team. This is remarkable. Yet the only thing people talk about are the must-win games, which were not all on Romo when you consider that it takes 4 quarters to win a game and not the last drive or the last play.

Your article should have addressed the last 5 years and not the past decade.

When you say it is not due to lack of talent? I would disagree despite only calling out some of the top 10 players in your list. The OL has been in constant flux and the defense has under gone several coaching changes and styles.

Considering that Ware has never led the team in tackles. DeMarcus has only led in sacks but does not make as many stops on defense or has changed the outcome of any games.

Ware gets most of the attention as a pure sack specialist, which is not enough to rank him #1. His game against the Redskins last year show cased how poor he can play at times.

As much as some people may hate to hear this, Tony Romo is actually the #1 player in Dallas. Without a strong RB and OL for much of his career, Tony has been the difference maker – good or bad and has made Dez, Witten, and Austin pro bowl caliber receivers.

My ranking is Romo, Witten, Bryant, Ware, Spencer, Austin, Lee, Claiborne, Carr, and Murray. I would not count Tyron Smith because he has not helped the OL become better.

He had two sacks and a forced fumble in the Cowboys playoff win in 2009, to name one. As for the Redskins game this year, remember that he was playing through a shoulder he would later have surgery on.

Ware doesn’t get mentioned as much as Romo because he isn’t the quarterback. Just that simple.

Fair or not, when people play the blame game they look at the quarterback and the coach first.

Dude, I was agreeing with you, and simply saying that I was holding out hope for Murray.

However, Dallas was one of the worst rushing teams in the league last year (In part because of Murray’s injuries/in part because of a bad offensive line). You have to have some semblance of balance on offense to keep pass rushers from totally pinning their ears back.

And no, not a lot of them have made the pro bowl. I don’t think that shocks anyone. I disagree with your logic that if a player doesn’t make the pro bowl that means they suck.

It’s easy to sit and discredit a performance based on other things that happened during that game. We could do it for any of Ware’s performances, and we could do it for a lot of Romo’s (good and bad) too.

I am not holding any hope on Murray. He is not reliable and a total bust with constant injury problems. If you go back and look at Murray’s career in OK, you will note how often he was hurt.

As for Ware and Romo, from my perspective, Ware is more overrated than Romo is underrated.

In the past decade, the Cowboys have shown that they play much worst without Romo than without Ware.

Romo has also given Dallas more chances to win late in critical games, but unfortunately has not come thru. With Romo at the helm, Witten, Bryant, and Austin continue to rank high in NFL stats.

As for the defense, the current group of players have not made any significant impact in the NFL. With the exception of Ware, none of the players rank high in any defense statistic categories. How much yardage did the Cowboys yield?

With Ware, the rest NFL does not fear playing against the Cowboys.

In fact most team, attack or disrupt Romo with pressure, which normally ends up in the opponents favor.

From what the Cowboys have done since 07, Romo is much more valuable than Ware.

By the injury train of thought, then, do you think Sean Lee is a total bust too? Just curious.

And I think it’s ridiculous to call DeMarcus Ware overrated. Say what you want to about sacks, but that kind of pressure on a quarterback (as you mention about other team’s getting pressure on Romo)is huge to stopping an offense.

Teams may not fear the Cowboys’ defense in general, but I guarantee you they spend a ton of time gameplanning for Ware.

And think about the linebacker situation last year when Lee and Carter were both hurt. Do you think that affected the defense at all? I do. Picking up linebackers off their couch in the middle of a season is going to help put your defense right in the toilet. But, if you look at the individual performances of some of the players on defense, you’ll see they actually performed their jobs quite well.

Jamie, the jury is still out for Sean Lee but he is not in the same category as Murray.

If the defense cannot stop the pass or the run with or without tons of sacks, what is the use? How many big games has the Cowboy defense won? This means the team is not stopping other teams from scoring. With Ware, the Dallas defense ranked 24 in scoring allowed last year.

With Romo, the Dallas offense ranked 6 in total yardage and 3rd in passing last year. Tony has been having productive years every season on offense and the defense has been dormant. Base on the statistical facts, who is more overrated. I say Ware. Tony has had more OL and RB bringing the team down or right into the toilet in big games.

So you bring up the linebackers off the couch situation taking the team into the toilet. The LBs did okay but not enough because Ryan was reckless. Romo has spent all his career playing with an OL and RB that resemble your linebacker couch analysis despite running for his life from the defense yet still producing.

Compare Ware to other defensive players like JJ Watt, A Smith, C Matthews, V Miller which have much stronger reputations for being game changers on defense and actually leading in NFL stats.

To say DeMarcus Ware is just a pass rush specialist and not a game changer is ridiculous. A sack in and of itself changes the game. Do you think that the same play is going to be called after a sack as the one that would have been? That’s not all he does if you actually watch the games. I see him out in coverage on RBs, TEs and even wideouts and I don’t see him getting picked on when he does. That also changes the game. Teams go into the game planning on DeMarcus Ware. They wouldn’t plan the same way if he wasn’t in there. He changes the game before the opening kick. While I am not going to say you are off your rocker to say Tony Romo is the best player on the Cowboys, I think an equal case can be made for Ware.

Mikelord, I never said Ware was not a game changer. If you read the context of my comment in its entirety, I said that other defensive players have “much stronger reputations for being game changers” to imply that Ware is less of a game changer.

When I am old and gray, I will eventually fall off my rocker. There is no doubt that I cannot stop it from happening. But do not think for one minute that I do not actually watch the games.

If you want to make a case about Romo and Ware being equal, why is that Ware gets no blame for the defense not being able to stop opponents from scoring and win in big games? That is because fans are conditioned to expect the QB and offense to win the game against all odds.

If Romo has not come thru in big games, It is also true that Ware has not come thru either?

As I always end up saying in just about every post, it is a team game. QB is not the only player to hail or blame of wins and losses. Every player compliments one another. Romo and Ware cannot win a game alone.

When it comes to effort, Romo and Ware are in equal status. When it comes to impact to the team or a game, Romo overshadows Ware.

Ware gets no blame on defense because he doesn’t touch the ball on every play when he is out there where a QB does. And yes you did “imply” that Ware was not a game-changer. Here is your statement:

“Name a critical game that Ware changed the outcome late in the season or in must win games. Name one?”

By nature, the QB will get blame or praise for every game depending on the outcome. It’s nature of the position. The QB has far more control over the course of a game than any defensive player would. He touches the ball on virtually every play he is out there, where any defensive player has little control over that.

You ask if game were won because Ware made the difference. While Romo has been the difference in winning a lot of games, there are many instances where games were lost on Romo’s mistakes. I doubt you could find a game where a loss was attributed to a mistake made by Ware.

Mikelord, you can twist the words anyway you like to help your argument. I get that. Ware is a game changer, I do admit that but not better than the other players I mentioned.

Although it is true that Ware does not have more control of scoring points because he does not have the ball, he does have more control of preventing opponents from scoring. Check the stats, the defense gave up too many yards and too many points. How can Romo overcome that, especially without help from RB and OL.

How many bad choices did Ware make in the last game of the season against the Redskins? Ware could not figure out what which way to go and the skins ran all over the field. He along with the rest of the defense made it worst for a struggling offense. I suppose the blame is on Romo’s for the late INT and not being able to make up for ALL the mistakes by the team, especially the defense not being able to stop the run. Oh, you might want to say that it was a patched up defense. Well guess what, the OL was also patched up and yet Romo has surpass nearly every Cowboy passing record to make for poor support on offense and lack of poor defense.

Yes, everyone other than me, including you by nature is a victim of blaming or praising a QB for the outcome of games. Stop listening to the media and others like you and make a stand and call it what it is, a team win or loss.

I’m not sure what words I am twisting, but your whole premise seems to based on a bunch of players not on the Cowboys roster. The whole premise of this post was the best 10 on the Cowboys. But ok, lets look at Ware and Romo compared at their positions on other teams. Of the 32 teams in the NFL, I could not see a place where Ware wouldn’t start in some capacity on any team. Whereas with Romo, he wouldn’t start over Brady in New England or Manning in Denver or Brees in New Orleans, so on and so on. That doesn’t mean he isn’t one of the most important players on the Cowboys, but to say Ware isn’t is also wrong. I’d take a coin flip personally.

Yes, and I started the dialog with my top 10 current players, which included other players not on Jamie’s list in this post.

You misused my words to twist them to say that I said Ware was not a game changer. My perspective for game changer is qualified by must-win games late in the season or other players with stronger reputations, and NOT for a game changer for all the games in general.

Here are my two specific quotes about game changer that you keep twisting:
“Name a critical game that Ware changed the outcome late in the season or in must win games. Name one?”
“Compare Ware to other defensive players like JJ Watt, A Smith, C Matthews, V Miller which have much stronger reputations for being game changers on defense and actually leading in NFL stats.”

In the same must win games with Romo late in the season, Ware was not a positive game changer for those games. Both Romo and Ware were guilty with “negative” game changer effort.

If you followed the original dialog with me and Jamie, my argument was that Romo should be higher than Ware on the list. That is all. Did you miss that part? I gave Jamie my rationale for the list of the current players not on his list that I thought should be in his top 10.

Where Romo and Ware could start immediately is irrelevant to this post. It is absolutely crazy to say Ware can start on any team today and Romo could not. It is easier to play DE or LB than it is to play QB. Brady, Manning, and Brees can out scored their opponents to win and perhaps because the defense makes more stops to keep the other team from scoring more points.

My bottom line, Romo is more valuable than Ware. You can rank the players however you want.

Despite NO running game and NO OL support, Romo has given the Cowboys more chances for must win games. Without Tony, Dallas would never be in must win situations late in the season and probably end up with 5-11 records. For these types of reasons alone, Romo should be ranked higher than Ware.

You can argue that Ware has not played with a dominate defense or better supporting cast. This is reason alone to see why Ware stands out too. But when has the defense been known to win games in Dallas in the past 10 years. If you are not busy winning, get busy losing.

I’m sorry but I disagree with your assertion that Romo is dealing with less. I mean really, If Romo goes down, do you say well I am no longer worried about Bryant, Witten, Austin and Murray. If Ware goes down do you really worry about anything else on Defense? I mean really, who has a better supporting cast Romo or Ware. Who does more with as little as they have.

I got that you disagreed with me on your first post. You are not the first person to ever disagrees with with my perspective.

Having good receivers and having enough time to read the defense and make the right throw requires that someone block and someone run the ball to keep the defense off balance for your QB. The current OL cannot handle the rush, blitz, or much less block for longer than 2 seconds. Was it not the FB and RB that have caused Romo’s injuries. Who is playing with less, I do not know, first base?

It sounds like you think that Romo is surrounded by all this fabricated talent by only citing the receivers. I guess nobody has to block or run the ball on offense. Is the glass half full or half empty with this offense?

Keep in mind that Stuabach had Dorsett along with the Doomsday Defense and an all pro line; Aikman had Smith along with a fast and disruptive defense and an all pro line; These guys had all the right talent and all the right tools and the end result was some SB wins.

Romo only truly has Witten, has no OL, no defense and an injury prone Murray, really? That is your rationale. How many SB has Romo been in, can you guess why? Is it just his turnovers or is it also the defense, the special teams, the coach. Hell, maybe it is the team mascot or the fans.

How many of the OL players in the past decade have made the pro bowl or have led the league at their position. In fact, the OL has contributed to more penalties and poor play that and led the league in miscues that has resulted in Romo getting hurt or playing hurt.

I think you are stuck in the Romo hater funk because you cannot get past the QB getting all the blame or glory. I say that the poor play by the defense is much more responsible for more losses than Romo is for less wins.

Here is some simple math, If Ware is more valuable than Romo, then which player is getting paid more for their job performance? If you say the QB gets the credit, good or bad, than just by default the QB is more valuable. Due to poor OL or WR not getting open Romo is constantly extending plays or playing desperately to make up for it.

If you insert any QB in the league behind the current Dallas OL and RB, you think they perform better than Romo. Manning would be in the hospital and career would be over, Brady would get a new NFL rule against getting too close to the QB and everyone else would file for free agency and get out of the Dallas before ruining their career.

Romo plays under more pressure and more scrutiny. Ware plays under less pressure with less of burden to the team and can never be blame for losses.

There is no doubt that Ware is a very exceptional and very gifted player on defense and will most likely get into the HOF. Ware is just not my number one current player because his play does not outweigh the effort it takes to win games in the same context as Romo.

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The site is owned and operated by Jamie Plunkett, a TCU graduate with a B.S. in advertising and public relations. In short, he’s a sports junkie. Born and raised in Dallas, he grew up following Dallas sports closely and passionately. He created the Dallas Sports Rant as an opportunity to unleash his sports knowledge and bias on the rest of the world. He also performs a pretty excellent karaoke version of Ice Ice Baby.